Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by wu-ikkyu on Friday June 02, 2017 @09:43AM
(#14469786)
>The only real question, IMO, is if we can afford it.
Sure we can, if we want to. We've got the resources, we just don't have the desire to distribute them.
40% of food is goes wasted[1] and there are ~23 year-round vacant homes in the US for every homeless person[2] in the US.
[1]http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/22/40-of-u-s-food-wasted-r...
[2]https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22335/are-there...
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by darawk on Friday June 02, 2017 @12:52PM
(#14471361)
Food/Housing are not UBI, though. UBI isn't about providing necessities, it's about providing cash at a level that one can provide the necessities for themselves.
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by wu-ikkyu on Sunday June 04, 2017 @09:31AM
(#14481484)
Why does a UBI have to be cash based?
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by darawk on Monday June 05, 2017 @08:07PM
(#14493553)
In principle, it doesn't have to be. But cash is theoretically the most efficient. Individuals know better than anyone else what they need at any given time. Giving them cash allows them to effectively manage their needs, and invest in their own development better than government could.
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by wu-ikkyu on Tuesday June 06, 2017 @03:14PM
(#14500244)
But as you said, providing for our basic needs (food, water, shelter) does not seem to be achievable in terms of cash.
Why is it that an arbitrary shortage of 1's and 0's in a computer somewhere is keeping us from achieving the end goal of UBI, which is to efficiently distribute the existing surplus of goods needed for survival that go wasted every year?
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by pmurT on Friday June 02, 2017 @12:07AM
(#14467387)
It incentivizes all activity productive risk taking or just sitting on the couch and playing Call of Duty - which if you've delt with most humans lately means it'll likely be Call of Duty unless there's some sort of familial pressure to do otherwise
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by darawk on Friday June 02, 2017 @12:51PM
(#14471349)
Well, the ideal situation is that those that want to sit around playing CoD may do so, because we have a high degree of automation for relatively simple jobs. Those that have ambition and the desire to educate themselves may work hard and have an even better life for themselves.
It may or may not work out like that, but that is the vision, I think.
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by alaaibrahim on Thursday June 01, 2017 @09:17PM
(#14466686)
And if you don't have minimum wage/hiring/firing laws, that would help with the illegal immigrants problem, as there would be no incentive to hire an illegal immigrant (it's only the headache of in case you are caught).
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by flukus on Thursday June 01, 2017 @09:38PM
(#14466787)
The incentive is still there, they'll work for peanuts while citizens don't have to work at all.
Re:A new report on a basic income scheme launched in Iran
by Broken_Hippo on Friday June 02, 2017 @05:50AM
(#14468723)
If anything, it increases the incentive.
For these exact same reasons, you also don't need a minimum wage. And you don't need laws about hiring/firing people. If you get fired, it's a hit, but not an existential crisis that requires government intervention. If, as an employer, you offer too low a salary, people simply won't take it. We don't need to ensure that the minimum wage meets some basic standard of living, because you're already guaranteed that by virtue of your humanity.
A UBI raises the minimum to a level where government intervention in the workplace is no longer required to ensure decent treatment of human beings. In so doing, it eliminates deadweight loss of all kinds, from every corner of the market.